This is our easy Crockpot tortellini recipe. Make soup with spinach in a creamy sauce everyone will love in just a few hours with frozen tortellini noodles! We love them stuffed with cheese but with meat is great too. Just $15 serves a family of 5!
If you’ve never made tortellini soup, you’re missing out. For under twenty bucks you too can make a pot of this easy Crockpot recipe to serve to everyone tonight. It’s truly a throw together and enjoy when you’re home kind of meal.
You only need 6 ingredients for frozen tortellini recipes and a ladle, then you’re done. Pair it with some bread and BAM…dinner is done! There are many different filled noodles you can choose from at the store. Find them frozen at the grocery store in cheese or beef typically.
You can see the ingredients here. Swap out meat for cheese filled pasta, or use ground beef if you prefer that over sausage. You could even shred rotisserie for Crockpot chicken tortellini soup! Either way this slow cooker soup recipe is incredible.
Under $20 to feed a family of 6??!! Totally. Of course if you buy brand names it may be a bit more, organic meat is pricier too. As you can see, 3 out of the 6 are Great Value (Walmart) brand which saves bunches. You don’t have to defrost, cook or thaw what is in the bag first either, just throw it right in!
Any brand works really. If you are on a budget buy whatever is cheapest, if you are choosier about what was inside the bigger brands may have more choices. You can choose vegetarian style, beef, cheese, etc…
Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup Ingredients
You are going to want to pick up a large bag of frozen tortellini noodles stuffed with meat or cheese tortellini, your choice of flavor. Do not boil them, defrost or anything. You just dump them right into your pot right out of the freezer to make this!!
For the meat we are using precooked ground sausage but you could use ground beef, ground turkey, chicken sausage too. Or half and half of any of them would be fine as this is super versatile.
Do you have to precook the meat?
Yes you do, unless it was seafood then it could boil in the broth to cook quickly. You’d need to brown sausage in this case on the stove in a pan. In the case of our Instant Pot sausage soup you can do this with the saute function!
Chicken broth or make homemade chicken stock to use as the necessary liquid. This adds flavor to the dish vs. using water which wouldn’t add any yum to it.
Fold in a large can of diced tomatoes, or could use 1/2 or 1/3 Rotel and the rest diced if you wanted to add a bit of heat to be spicy.
How to Make it Creamy
Then you are going to want a block of Cream cheese. Don’t use low fat, come on now we want it creamy and we aren’t counting calories today. You could use a dairy free / lactose free variety but I will say that is granier.
Fresh spinach leaves we love to add at the end just until tender. You can leave that out but any way I can add vegetables to a dinner dish I will. 😉
Variations and Substitutions
If you’re really opposed to vegetables you could leave the spinach out, but really it offers a nice texture and flavor to the dish. Only have vegetable broth on hand? NO worries, use that! As for meat, sliced kielbasa sausage is best. Plumps up in the pot and is precooked so you don’t have to test the internal temp.
If you want a really low fat version you can even add your proteins into a strainer and have hot water run over the top. When we are eating really clean and healthy I will do this and it helps rinse off a lot of fat. I will say that fat = flavor when it comes to meats. SOoooooo most of the time I will just dump everything in, with the grease.
How Long to Cook Tortellini Soup in Slow Cooker
You are going to need about 5 minutes to brown the ground meat first before adding to the pot. Beyond that there is no prep, just dump everything else in there, no defrosting necessary. Then you want to cook for about 5 hours until noodles are tender and insides are warmed.
FAQ
Ravioli is two layers of pasta in traditionally a square shape whereas tortellini is one piece of pasta folded into dumpling like shapes. I suppose you could use either or but the latter I feel holds up a bit better since the noodle is a bit thicker.
They can either have a meat based filling, or they’re filled with ricotta or spinach. Traditionally cooked in water or broth until tender, they are an easy way to make a quick meal with very little prep.
Yes and actually, frozen tortellini is even better cooked in a soup to become tender because they soak up a lot more flavor. Instead of boiling in water, draining, and then adding them into your soup you should skip that step and pour them right into the bubbling soup!
Personally I do not like to cook less hours on high because I feel it turns out best low and slow…..thus the name of the pot itself y’all. Noodles don’t take long to get tender so check those often especially if you want them al dente when served.
If you feel the broth isn’t thick enough for you at the end you could thicken a bit with a bit more softened cream cheese or whisk a bit of cornstarch with water and stir that in to bubble.
Well that is IF you have any leftovers, what do you do with them? Allow it to cool completely before transferring to an airtight container or freezer storage bag. Keep in fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in microwave in 30 sec. intervals stirring in between times until warmed.
Crockpot Tortellini Soup Recipe
Equipment
- 1 slow cooker
Ingredients
- 1 bag frozen tortellini, 19 oz bag, meat or cheese filled
- 1 pound ground sausage, I prefer HOT Jimmy Dean sausage, precooked beforehand
- 1 can diced tomatoes, 28 oz, or rotel
- 4 cup chicken broth, or vegetable broth
- 1 block cream cheese, 8 oz, room temp, cut into cubes
- 1 bag spinach, fresh leaves, 10 oz, optional
Instructions
- On the stovetop, brown your ground sausage until it is no longer pink on outside. Drain grease from pan and add into your Crockpot.
- Pour in your can of diced tomatoes and broth Stir to combine.
- Cook on low for 5 hours. For best results stir twice during this time.
- After 5 hours add the frozen tortellini, cubed room temperature cream cheese and fresh spinach leaves, submerge into the liquid. Cook an additional 30 minutes until noodles are tender to your liking and cream cheese has melted to create a creamy soup.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What is a good side dish?
Serve in bowls with a side of Crockpot cornbread, a salad or rolls to dip in on the side! It’s a great recipe guest post you can make on busy nights and/or when you’re on a budget.
Want to try another version of this, but cooked a lot quicker with a tomato flair? Try our Instant Pot tomato basil soup with the same pasta.
